Hydraulic



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Ny PETERS. PHOTDJJTHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTKJNy D C.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE.

MORRILL A. SHEPARD, OF ORIO, ILLINOIS.

HYDRAULIC MOTOR.

Specicaton of Letters Patent No. 24,826, dated July 19, 1.859.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, MORRILI. A. SI-IEPARD, of Orio, in the county of Tabash and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Method of Giving Motion to Tater-Wheels and that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure l, is a vertical longitudinal section of my apparatus, and Fig. Q, is a vertical projection of the same. l

Similar letters of reference, in each of the several figures, indicate corresponding parts.

The nature of my invention consists in a method of giving motion to a water wheel (by means of which power may be applied to give motion to anymachinery) without the necessity for the formation of the dam as ordinarily employed for such purpose.

To enable others. skilled in the art, to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

In the drawing, S, represents the stream in which is inserted the draft tube e, made air and water tight, the upper portion of said tube is constructed as shown in the drawing with the head h, and curved piece m, made for the reception of the water wheel a.; is the axis upon which the water wheel is hung and l, is a crank through which motion is given to the machinery desired to be operated by the water wheel. The joints in the outer casing are made air-tight, by any well known means, and a water or other fluid jacket may be employed about the axis to prevent effectually the ingress of air.

t, t, are the buckets of the wheel.

At the upper part of the casing an opening 7a, is made into which the siphon o, is fitted so as to form an air tight oint.

m, is an opening in the head L, which may ,be closed at pleasure by an air tight joint.

The siphon c, is arranged as shown in the drawing, the upper part being connected with the air tight casing a2, while the lower part of the siphon is inclosed by the tube d, made open at the top. The tube d, I would state, may however be made air-tight 4if it is deelned expedient.

The tube (Z, forms a part of the tube T, which rests on the bottom of the stream, its opening O, being situated as shown, in the more elevated portion of the stream.

My apparatus is intended for running streams where the fountain head is necessarily higher than the point of discharge.

The operation of my invention may readily be understood. The draft pipe e, is filled with water through the opening m, and the faucet f, is closed. The valves e, a, are then opened and the water is driven by its momentum and atmospheric pressure through the tube T; its egress through the branch (Z, being prevented by the atmospheric pressure at its open top, the water is therefore. forced up the siphon c, and on to the buckets Z). of the wheel a; the latter being thus set in motion, will cause a partial vacuum in the space in which the wheel rotates, the water being now let off from the draft tube by means of the faucet f, which is now open, a rapid motion will be given to the water wheel, and through it to any machinery it may be desired to operate. A partial vacuum being created, as `described in the draft tube, the water wheel will move with much less resistance than water wheels employed in the ordinary manner.

An inclined pipe or tube may be employed, reaching from the casing w, down into the streamysomewhat similar to the tube used in the ordinary hydraulic ram, but this arrangement is expensive and inconvenient, because the tube must be made much longer than in the plan shown, in order to obtain the necessary momentum.

I have represented one form of wheel only, and one method of operating the same in a partial vacuum, but it is obvious that many other forms of wheels may be employed and their arrangement so as to work in a partial vacuum modified.

It is obvious that this invention may be applied to the propulsion of a boat moving up stream, the opening O, of the tube T, being placed at the bow of the boat. This application, however, may Wheel by the action of an undammeol stream7 10 not be adopted and .is simply adverted to substantially as herein described. in order to protect myself in the use of my The above specification of my impt. in the invention with traveling as Well as stationapplication of the Siphon as a motive agent 3 ary machinery, signed by me this 25thl day of May 1859.

Vhat I claim as my invention and desire MORRILL A. SHEPARD. to secure by Letters Patent, is- Witnesses:

The combination of the vacuum tube e, G. YORKE AT LEE, and tube c, for giving motion to ythe Water W. READ. A E 

